"Recovery..."

Chapter 15 - "Smuggled..."

Chapter 15 - "Smuggled..."

Clara woke up surprisingly late the next day but she had a sneaky feeling it had something to do with the excessive amount of drugs that they were pumping into her body.

It made her exhausted just thinking about it.

She knew she had to make some phone calls - first port of call sorting out her Daughter.

Aria needed somewhere to stay, but who wants a baby dumped on them at Christmas?

'Clara Oswald where the hell are you? If you don't come to work today they're going to sack you. You didn't turn up Saturday or yesterday' Adrian said from the office caring for his best friend.

'Well I'm sorry but the last thing I can think about or worry about whilst a Fucking machine is breathing for me in the hospital is if I can get to work' I said in an over dramatic tone yet was serious at the same time.

'What? Where are you?'

'London hospital. I was admitted Friday night apparently and have been on a ventilator unconscious since then until last night' Clara admitted, really wanting to get out the bed and stretch her legs but she knew all too well that would be a terrible idea.

'Oh my god. Are you serious?'

'Adrian why would I make that up? Tell Riley and I'll get my consultant to give him a call but in the meantime what are you doing over Christmas?' She begged.

'Spending it with Danny still. We're just gonna chill and eat turkey at home' Adrian said. 'Why did you want an invite?'

'No. It's just I'm never going to be out before Christmas and have nowhere for Aria to go. Would you please look after her? Just for a few days? I'll pay you and everything?' She begged once again.

'God you make my life complicated Oswald. Yes okay. But what the hell do I do with a 9 week old baby?' He said nervously thinking about it.

'Feed her, burp her, change her, let her sleep. The cycle kind of just repeats the same every 4 to 6 hours'

'I'll come to the hospital this afternoon yeah?'

'No come tomorrow. I'll get my consultant to call work. I'll sort this. Thank you' I said.

'Clara wait. What happened?'

'It's complicated and I don't really want to talk about it yet' she admitted hanging up the phone and staring at the wall for a moment, deciding that everything hurt too much and she might just go back to sleep when the handsome looking Doctor came back.

She wasn't sure what it was about him but he just seemed so kind and generous. Probably the reason why he wanted to be a Doctor, she suspected.

'Morning' John said to Clara looking her over and grabbing her notes. 'Looking good' John commented, checking a few wires and things.

'Will you call my boss?' Clara blurted out, without thinking or making that sound a bit better.

'Of course I can. Where do you work?'

'The children's paediatric centre. It's not that far from here' she said.

'Oh yeah. I visited there a time or two actually. It's a really great place' John nodded.

'Yeah. It's just I haven't turned up in three days and people are starting to suspect something and then my friend just said he's threatening to sack me..."

'I'll call him. Don't worry about a thing' he chuckled.

Somehow John was still managing to keep a decent attitude and not punch all his patients.

'You look about how I feel. You okay?' Clara asked.

'Apart from not having slept on what has to be bordering 24 hours... I'm good. Don't worry about me. Just worry about getting better and stop rejecting that kidney' he said reading her charts. 'I'd rather not put you back on the ventilator'

'I'll tell my organs to kick themselves into gear' Clara smirked.

'Do you recognise me?' John asked as it came blundering out. He was supposed to be pacing himself and ask her that in a couple of days.

'No. Should I?'

'We went to medical school together? Spent about 5 years in the same class. It's okay I didn't recognise you at first' John shrugged.

'Wait a minute your the John Smith? The one that graduated not only top of the class but top of the Foundation 1 and 2 students nationwide?'

'Umm. Yeah that's me I guess' he said not gushing about it because he doesn't like to gush about that.

'I don't remember you. You must have changed a lot'

'Yeah. Puberty finally kicked in when I hit 25' he joked, placing the clipboard back where it belongs at the end of the bed. 'You'll probably remember the nerdy guy at the corner of the class room with hair down to their shoulders and huge black glasses. I also had quite some stubble but thankfully decided to shave that bitch off'

'Yeah I remember that guy... But that wasn't you' she smiled.

'Oh. Believe me. It was' he chuckled, as he left the room. 'Be back in a bit. Shout if you need anything'

- - -

John did indeed return a few hours later. About 12 o clock, and has a small surprise for Clara.

He wasn't sure why he was going to so much effort in all this but he liked her and figured all the shit she had been through she kind of deserved to see her baby.

'Hey. How you feeling now?' John asked.

'Well. That just pumped me with a load more morphine so not doing too bad' Clara said sitting up a little, and leaning on the pillow.

She still looked far too pale for John's liking, egging him to run another blood test.

'I thought you might like a tiny visitor' John smirked, stepping full in the room and placed the car seat on the bed in front of Clara.

'Aria' she squeaked sitting up now.

'On the condition that you let me run a blood test. You look too pale' he said not in a very complimenting way.

'Just what a woman wants to hear. Why did you bring her here?'

'I smuggled her up. Thought it might cheer my patient up and it's not going to cause any harm for 10 minutes' John said happily, as Clara tried to lean forward and take her out of the seat but really couldn't without wincing.